10 October 2007 Lincoln University computing staff celebrate success of new degree

Research carried out by Lincoln University Professor of Economics Paul Dalziel, in conjunction with Professor Caroline Saunders and Greg Taylor, was funded by the Tertiary Education Commission as part of the Canterbury Growth Pilot and used as the foundation of the ICT Smart Future campaign launched in November 2006 at the Connectivity event in Christchurch.

Dalziel is also a member of the faculty's Industry Liaison Group and was an instrumental member of the team that carried out a review into the degree offering in 2005, resulting in the evolution of the current qualification.

According to Dalziel, it is crucial that institutions teaching in the ICT sector remain closely aligned to the needs of industry, which has an overwhelming demand for staff that is projected to continue into the foreseeable future as the appetite for ever-evolving computer and web applications expands.

"Lincoln has been known for producing technology graduates with very practical skill sets that are immediately relevant to the companies they go to work for," he says.

"Re-designing and renaming the degree was simply another step towards responding to what ICT employers and the students themselves were telling us they wanted."

In addition to renaming the degree, changes included the addition of new papers in Software engineering and Web development, plus more involvement of industry leaders as guest lecturers and the employment of UK born lecturer, Dr Stuart Charters.

Corporates including JADE Corporation, Tait Electronics, Allied Telesis, HP, SunGard Systems, Digital Fusion and many more, are regular employers of Lincoln B.S. & I.T. graduates, with demand continuing to outstrip supply.

Craig Saunders of Digital Fusion says "As a developer of solutions for the Small and Medium Enterprise market, we need practical people with a "can do" attitude and broad skill base – we've found that in abundance in graduates from the Lincoln IT programmes. They're inspired, ready to put their knowledge to use and always willing to learn more.

"The new directions for this programme will help us in terms of the quality of education that students emerge with, but perhaps more importantly it's a move that will help everyone by ensuring the study is relevant, exciting and stimulating, drawing more students to this ever changing, fast moving industry."

JADE Corporation's head of development Kevin Callaghan agrees that Lincoln's BSIT graduates emerge with a strong practical understanding of the relevant skills required.

"We have employed at least eight Lincoln graduates in recent years, including the current head of our Qualification Group, Andrew Hawker. JADE staff have also taught at Lincoln ensuring there is a close liaison between what is being taught and what we are looking for in new employees," Callaghan said.

Lincoln Applied Computing Group Professor Alan McKinnon says the university has capacity to take more ICT students, and the University looks forward to the degree intake growing to help ensure sufficient graduates are available to help supply the needs of the sector.

"Opportunities exist for students to complete papers at Lincoln's Summer School and also to start their degree mid-year, which adds flexibility, plus they are encouraged to incorporate another major subject offered by the university into their degree studies which ensures they have a broad degree."

Information about the current IT degree offering at Lincoln can be found here: www.lincoln.ac.nz

BACHELOR OF SOFTWARE AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, LINCOLN UNIVERSITY

Timeline –

1987: First Computing qualification offered by Lincoln, as a major in the Bachelor of Commerce (Agriculture)

1990: Computing qualification offered as a major in the Bachelor of Commerce and Management

1995: Bachelor of Applied Computing degree introduced

2005: Bachelor of Applied Computing underwent major review with input from the University's Computing Industry Liaison Group. Degree had significant overlap with software components of a traditional computer science degree but also significant information technology components – i.e. the use of computing applications.

2006: Decision was made to rename the degree as Bachelor of Software and Information Technology

2007: First year of the B.S. & I.T. in action, including the introduction of two new course papers, one in Software Engineering, and one in Web Development

OCT 2007: Celebration of first successful year of new degree and 20 years of Applied Computing at Lincoln University

 

Industry attendees at the event will include:

Ed Wegner – Tait Electronics 
Howard Nicholls – Alchemy (guest speaker)
John Beaufoy (Skipton Building Soc developer) – North Western Investments
Adrienne Phillips (past student) – Landcare Research
Craig Saunders - Digital Fusion
Nancy Kane – JADE
Trevor Nesbit – CPIT
Neville Churcher – University of Canterbury